Article from the
Duluth Budgeteer about lacrosse in Duluth and northern Minnesota
Louie St. George, for the Budgeteer
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| Duluth Chargers Varsity player Henry Roningen (rught) |
Every evening this spring, it seemed, there was a collection of stick-wielding teenagers running rampant across the turf at Public Schools Stadium.
Baseball team? Nope. Dry-land hockey practice? Certainly not. Golfers? They don’t run. No, it was a burgeoning group of lacrosse enthusiasts, who apparently find strength in numbers.
Lacrosse is the fastest-growing sport in the country, and the Duluth Superior Chargers certainly exemplify that trend. A club team, the Chargers boasted 70 players (primarily from Eastern Duluth and Hermantown) spread across three teams — middle school, junior varsity and varsity — and won seven of nine games while finishing second in the North Division of the Minnesota Boys Scholastic Lacrosse Association.
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| Duluth Chargers Middle Schooler Bryce Holak |
Not too shabby for a team whose sport remains on the fringe of mainstream society — at least here in the Northland.
“A lot of people are afraid of it just because it’s an obscure sport to most of Northern Minnesota,” the team’s co-coach, Matt Reeves, who was in his fifth season of coaching the Chargers, said shortly after the Chargers’ season ended in early June. "They don’t understand it, so they kind of are leery to get involved, but the growth that we’ve had, once kids come out and try it, they love it."
As soccer’s dramatic growth of the 1990s appears to have reached a plateau — a very healthy and sustainable plateau — lacrosse looks destined to become the Next Big Thing. Or, perhaps, we already have reached that point, and lacrosse is the Current Big Thing. Either way, it’s a big thing.
Even in Minnesota, where folks are often skeptical of any sporting pursuit that doesn’t include a puck, the game’s popularity is stunning. The Minnesota State High School League sanctioned 113 teams (59 girls, 54 boys) this spring.
The state’s professional lacrosse team, the Minnesota Swarm, averages close to 10,000 fans a game. Locally, Minnesota Duluth’s club program is among the most successful in the nation.
“It’s been outstanding,” said Matt Koppang, Reeves’ coaching counterpart with the Chargers, of the uptick in interest. “The fact that Minnesota now has a professional lacrosse team that’s one of the greatest things in our world now is going down and watching the Swarm play. And finally just being able to watch it on TV now."
The Chargers hope to eventually join the MSHSL and become an official high school varsity sport. In the meantime, they will continue to compete against other infant club programs from around the state. Fortunately, the schedule has become less burdensome in recent years, as programs sprout up throughout Northeastern Minnesota, thereby limiting road trips to the Twin Cities.
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| Duluth Chargers JV player Britton Harris |
Part of lacrosse’s appeal is that it develops a plethora of skills used in other sports. Hockey players enjoy it because of its utilization of a stick. Football players relish the physicality, and basketball players can enhance their footwork while running plays similar to those often used on the hardwood.
Plus, it’s just downright fun.
“It’s faster-paced and it’s good exercise for other sports,” said the Chargers’ Britton Harris, who will be a junior at Duluth East this fall.
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| Duluth Nighthawks in blue |
While the Chargers will have to replace roughly 15 seniors who graduated last month, the Duluth Nighthawks were remarkably young in 2011. Only four of the Nighthawks’ 37 players were seniors, meaning the team should feature impressive experience when it reconvenes next spring.
The Nighthawks, like the Chargers a club team, went 3-4-1 to finish in the middle of the pack of the Northcentral Schoolgirls Lacrosse Association.
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